


The Point of Imbalance

by FreakCityPrincess, JessKo, plotholes_ahead



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Thrawn Series - Timothy Zahn (2017)
Genre: Anal Sex, Immortality, Inappropriate Use of the Force, M/M, Near Death Experiences, Oral Sex, Porn With Plot, Ritual Sex, Seduction to the Dark Side, Serious Injuries, Xeno, force sensitive Thrawn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-23
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:07:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27164984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FreakCityPrincess/pseuds/FreakCityPrincess, https://archiveofourown.org/users/JessKo/pseuds/JessKo, https://archiveofourown.org/users/plotholes_ahead/pseuds/plotholes_ahead
Summary: Chiss with Sight were not supposed to feel fear. They were not supposed to feel anger.But at the possibility that Eli did not survive the encounter he felt both, with such overwhelming force that the edges of his vision darkened, and a stronger feeling long-buried threatened to resurface.He felt it. The pull towards what the Chiss called the Point of Imbalance.
Relationships: Thrawn | Mitth'raw'nuruodo/Eli Vanto
Comments: 21
Kudos: 37





	1. Eternal

_ Anger is the enemy.  _

_ Fear is not acceptable.  _

_ Jealousy is a weakness.  _

_ Arrogance is deadly.  _

"So?" Che'var trailed along beside him, maintaining a precarious balance on the narrow wall that encircled the compound, separating the meticulously-kept lawn from the hard earth he walked on. "How does it feel? To have a name?" 

_ Pride is not your friend. _

Thrawn slowed down, if only to allow the younger Chiss to keep up. The girl was agile, but if she continued at his pace, she was surely going to injure herself. 

"It does not feel much different," he answered. "It is...new. That is all."

_ Emotion is not for you. _

The girl looked disappointed. "You really do not feel...accomplishment? It's quite an achievement, you know, to be taken into a Ruling Family. And for them to take your brother too!" 

Thrawn turned to face her, a warning look in his eyes. "Accomplishment, or pride? The line is thin, Che'var. I do not wish to disappoint my new family so soon, nor do I wish to walk that line." 

Che'var looked down at her feet, and slowly stepped off the ledge. 

Thrawn stiffened. Had he been so concerned with the feeling of pride warring for attention in his chest that he'd allowed in anger? And directed at a girl he was supposed to be mentoring, unfairly setting a new entrant up against a final-year student. 

"Che'var," he said. "I am sorry."

_ Humility, you must practice. _

The girl looked up at him with eyes that had never been unsheltered. Che'var hadn't come from a casteless place like he had. Before her Sight had manifested, she'd belonged to a well-off middle-class family. She'd been happy. 

She still was; happy, and enthusiastic. Eager for what the Academy had in store for her. 

_ The truth will be your ally.  _

"If I am to be honest, the Ninth Family's decision to accept me is…pleasing." 

Che'var's bright red eyes widened. 

"We are allowed to feel that way," Thrawn told her. "As long as we remain careful of pride, and arrogance. We cannot forget where we came from, or the greater purpose we serve, in pursuit of more honours. Is that understood?" 

Che'var nodded, but when she immediately hopped back onto the ledge it became doubly clear she hadn't been paying attention. Thrawn held out a hand before she tripped over to the other side in her haste; she took one look at his pensive expression and giggled. 

"Aren't we taught to not worry, too?" she joked. 

Despite himself, Thrawn's lips twitched just a little at the corners. 

"We have wasted enough time. Keep up, Che'var, or you will be late for your lesson." 

Che'var laughed, traversing the ledge as precariously as before alongside him, finding safety in their linked hands. 

_ You are neither Jedi nor Sith. You are a servant of the Ascendancy, not a slave of the Force. You will protect. You will serve. You will honour what is ours.  _

* * *

The Ascendancy chose its most steadfast recruit to be sent to the Empire. 

Someone with a stronger will than others, someone who wouldn't turn. Who had an extraordinary level of control over his emotions to the point where he exhibited nearly none. A Chiss with the ability to think and plan, to strategize for the long-term, to talk his way into and out of a situation to his benefit. Someone who inspired loyalty in others, and someone who was unerringly loyal himself.

If Thrawn couldn't survive the Empire, they'd said, we have no one who could. 

But the Empire was a different world, a different reality; far from the scattered colonies of the Unknown Regions and the little connectedness they bore. The Empire was vast, organized chaos. It was a machine with a billion moving cogs that never stopped working, never faltered significantly enough for its subjects to take a break. 

It was mechanical. It valued indifference, and where there was no room for indifference it valued cruelty. 

And slowly but surely, it started to poison the handful of emotions Thrawn was allowed to have. 

It twisted the meaning of truth. Lied, concealed, manipulated information to serve a debatable  _ greater benefit.  _ The truth was often whatever the people in power deemed it to be. 

There was no place for humility in the Navy. Unwavering confidence bordering on arrogance made connections and steadied the ladder of rank. 

Trust was taken advantage of. 

Peace died in the violent flurry of orbital bombardment over worlds that dared to ask for it.

Thrawn was not completely surprised with the being that stared back at him in the mirror. Around his red irises, instead of a field of the same colour, was a sea of sickly yellow. A long, hard blink later, the unnatural colour remained. The feeling that ran through his blood was new and strange, yet oddly comforting, all-consuming. 

Between the indifferent, cruel Empire and the emotionally fraught, passionate Rebellion, could  _ anyone  _ have not turned?

* * *

"I don't want to hurt you." 

Agent Kallus－  _ former-agent, now,  _ Eli thought－ stood across from him in the sterile grey corridor they had often traversed together. The only difference this time was the offensive weapon; a bo-rifle, a lost heritage of Lasan, that the former-agent held out with shivering hands. 

Eli had never seen the man so completely out of it. Never known an ISB Agent's hands could ever shake with a weapon in them. Kallus was badly injured, but he still far outclassed Eli in close range combat.

Eli had a much more stable grip on his blaster, though his eyes were having a hard time staying still as they shifted between focusing on the weapon and the Agent's dark, angered eyes. 

"I can't let you escape." 

Strewn about the floor were the bodies of their trooper escort, and overwhelming the air was the stench of fresh blaster-smoke. Only Eli remained on his feet. 

Kallus's grip on his favored weapon grew decidedly less steady as he took a step closer. 

"Get out of my way, Vanto." 

Eli didn't budge. He didn't take his eyes off the other man's either this time, entirely focused. His own weapon was secure between his hands. 

"Think about what you are doing," said Eli, lowering his voice to a pitch of reasoning, yet not pleading. "What you're leaving behind, and for what? A pipe-dream of toppling the Empire? Do you really believe that?" 

" _ Get.  _ Out of. My  _ way. _ " 

Eli did not. "I know the Empire isn't perfect. I know we've been asked to do things that don't sit right. But the Empire is what the galaxy  _ needs,  _ Kallus. Order and sustainability. Not...not chaos, and anarchy, and disorganization. With the way the Rebellion operates, do you honestly believe they can do better?" 

Kallus moved faster than expected. Before he knew it, Eli's weapon had been knocked out of his hands and he'd been tackled, a thumb jammed into a pressure point that made his knee jerk and a pained sound tear from his throat before he found himself pressed back against cold durasteel. An inch away from his face the energy of the bo-rifle crackled. 

"Kallus－" Eli gritted out. 

"Stop talking," growled the Agent. Eli felt the melting heat of the rifle's firing end, far too close for comfort. "Every time you Imperials talk, you prove yourself  _ blinded  _ fools. And  _ you,  _ Vanto. You had your chance. Batonn should've changed you. It should've opened your eyes to the  _ bloodshed  _ that Imperial intervention causes. If it did not－" Kallus snarled, and Eli flinched as a stray spark caught his cheek. "The only conclusion left is that you don't  _ want  _ to change." 

"You've gone insane," Eli growled. "Lay off, Agent. There's no going back from this." 

"No," said Kallus, in a suddenly calm voice that sent chills down his spine. "There isn't." 

The bo-rifle closed the distance. 

* * *

When news of Kallus' escape initially reached Thrawn, he continued his work planetside. Besides the orders he'd already given his crew, there was nothing more he could do. 

But when word came in that the escape had landed Eli in medbay, Thrawn made his way back to the  _ Chimaera  _ as fast as he could.  _ He's in a bacta tank,  _ Commodore Faro had told him anxiously.  _ He's in a pretty bad state, sir.  _

_ Fear. Anger. _ They fought for a place in his heart, and where something so precious was concerned－Thrawn spared no thought to resist them. 

His anger and fear had boiled to a fever-pitch by the time his shuttle docked. Thrawn took long, purposeful strides to the medbay, shoving a slow-moving medical droid out of his path to the bacta tanks. 

Eli was suspended in the furthest tank, as informed, being monitored by a 2-1B in the absence of a human doctor－ but something was off. There was white gauze wrapped around half of his face, which was not standard procedure as far as Thrawn knew.

"The bandage," said Thrawn, his voice barely its usual blank slate. "Why is it there?" 

"For the purpose of retaining the patient's eye in its socket, sir," answered the med-droid mechanically, one of over a million programmed responses to inquiries about a patient's state. "The damage is severe. The patient had an abysmally low chance of survival when he was brought in."

Thrawn gritted his teeth, a knee-jerk reaction in defiance of the cold shiver that ran up his spine. 

Chiss with Sight were not supposed to feel fear. They were not supposed to feel anger. 

But at the possibility that Eli nearly did not survive the encounter－he felt  _ both,  _ with such overwhelming force that the edges of his vision darkened, and a stronger feeling long-buried threatened to resurface. 

He felt it. The pull towards what the Chiss called the Point of Imbalance. 

Eli's sleeping face was peaceful, marred by the bandage that wouldn't need to be there had Thrawn been by his side. He trailed a tentative hand along Eli's cheek, over the cold glass. Air bubbles rose steadily above him. Being this close, almost touching, hearing his breathing, even through a mask－ it pulled him back from the precipice. 

Every wall he'd ever built around himself rose back up when the sound of breathing filled the room; not Eli's quiet breathing in the tank. Something raspy and mechanical. A clodding step forward, boot slamming down onto metal with the weight of keeping a dead man alive. 

This was the arrival of Darth Vader. 

Thrawn paused, sensed a passing nurse’s hurry in duties, the stormtroopers outside of the medical block’s battle-ready anxiousness. Above him, an officer paced his office in irritation. And Vader, Thrawn could sense his mission. He was suspect in all of this after all, Kallus escaping off his ship, having resided here for some time. Thrawn knew there was nothing he could say to change Vader’s mind on this either, as he was here on direct orders from the Emperor himself. 

In his mind, an ancient Chiss without a face held a bloodied corpse in his arms. Releasing their charge, the one they were sworn to protect, they rose, bright light suddenly overtaking their form. There would be no words.

Energy crackled from Thrawn’s core out to his limbs and down to his fingers where it visibly crackled between blue digits. The being in his thoughts extended their hands, channeling their light out onto the world around them. Thrawn realized this vision was a lesson from generations past who had broken and been reformed into something stronger. More dangerous, more desperate. More perfect. 

He felt limitless. Like a god. 

And much like the God of Atollon, Thrawn unleashed his rage onto the world around him. 

Vader only had a chance to pull his saber, deflection becoming absorption. Wires overloaded, popping and sizzling, and collants dried up, compartments exploding with small bands. Smoke rose from a biomechanical form. Synthetic knees buckled and broke as Chiss fingers burned and shook. Then it was over, and Thrawn knew his time in the Empire had officially come to an end. The ship groaned beneath his feet as it began to fail, systems just as fried as the Sith at his feet.

He stumbled over towards the bacta tank where Eli twitched within, climbing up as his vision swam red with blood. Diving in head first, he allowed himself a few precious, healing seconds before disconnecting Eli from the machinery and hoisting him out of the tank. Carrying him down collapsing maintenance corridors towards the hangar, Thrawn concocted a plan for their escape, and for their safety.

* * *

When Eli awoke, several things made themselves immediately known. First, he was no longer on the Chimaera, but rather laid out on the bench of what appeared to be a Lambda shuttle. Second, he was sore all over. And third, Thrawn knelt, looking a bit unlike himself. There was an ashen quality to the Chiss, and not just because of the shuttle’s dim lighting. But most prominently, the coloring around his irises was a sickly yellow.

Thrawn offered him a thin smile, and Eli reached up to cup a hollow cheek. Instead he missed and his hand brushed along the side of Thrawn’s neck. How did that happen? Feeling his way along smooth blue flesh, Eli got to where he wanted to set his hand in the first place. 

A thin cut ran over Thrawn’s right eye, still bleeding and just missing the sensitive organ above and below. “What happened?” 

The explanation Eli got was anything but, leaving the human only more confused. Only when Thrawn began to remove his burnt uniform tunic did the story become believable. Dark lines wrapped along either side of Thrawn’s abdomen like fingerling lightning. Lightning that Thrawn had wielded, if only for a short time, and lost control of. 

Eli had to accept that the Chimaera was no more, and they were likely presumed dead by the Empire. 

“When I learned of what had happened to you in my careless absence…” Thrawn began again, but Eli quieted him with a kiss, the effort of sitting up on his elbows monumental but entirely worth the way Thrawn's chapped lips met his own, plush and moist from the bacta soak still. What stung the most though was learning that one thing was unable to be healed by the seemingly magical healing fluid. 

Thrawn now understood that he was granted these abilities to protect his beloved. His teacher, the ancient Chiss, had not been able to guard their most precious companion. Thrawn would not make the same mistake, having already failed once, a grey eye looking up at him was living proof of his shortcoming. 

Eli would be blind in his right eye forever. As he kissed Thrawn, he could only see half of Thrawn’s face. The half with the long cut, running from his forehead ridge down to his jutting cheekbone. Without bacta, it would surely scar. All of it would. The more Eli looked at Thrawn, the more battered he appeared, bruises and burns dotting his cerulean skin like islands on an ocean. 

Somehow, it only made the Chiss more attractive. Battle tested warrior-like. Intimidating. Eli had already known Thrawn was all of these things, and more, but his pristine image in a flawless white uniform never portrayed that to the world. He looked like any other bureaucrat. 

Now, though, scars and burns on full display alongside firm honed muscles, Thrawn was projecting exactly what he was, and Eli would have it no other way.

Some time passed before Thrawn reluctantly pulled himself away from Eli, stating that he needed to check on things in the cockpit, and asking Eli to rest just a bit more. Eli complied, nestling back down into a coarse blanket found in the emergency supplies on the shuttle. 

From the pilot’s seat, Thrawn saw the shuttle out of hyperspace and took in the view. 

The planet loomed ahead; the epitome of a desolate and scorched nightmarish wasteland drenched in a blood-tinted haze that encompassed the entire world. Thrawn piloted their shuttle through the red mist, above the overgrown, twisted trees and over the sharp, burnt-orange slated rock. He had heard tales of this place, this cursed planet of Dathomir. In the distance were the ruins of a once great power that rivaled even the Jedi. Those ruins were their destination.

He set their ship down and shot Eli a measured, sidelong glance. The human returned his gaze with a look of confusion. He would understand soon enough. Thrawn gathered a few essentials before helping Eli to his feet, he was a bit unsteady but soon stable, and assured Thrawn that he was ready to venture out. 

The environment was arid and hot like the desert. A thin layer of perspiration quickly coated their skin as they stepped out of the shuttle, taking a breath of dry air that scratched at their throats on the way down. 

Thrawn glanced at Eli one more time before tenderly taking his hand and leading them into the mouth of a vast cave.

Inside was dark; dank, and void of any living creature. Thrawn held his glow rod higher near his face. Only the sound of their footsteps could be heard, slapping against the wet rock and in puddles that appeared along their path. A drop of moisture landed on the unhealed gash in Thrawn’s face. It stung as it seeped into the exposed wound, new flesh unsullied and unfamiliar to the harsher elements. Wiping the acidic fluid away with the back of his hand, Thrawn held in a wince as they crept along, Thrawn in front of Eli, their hands tightly intertwined.

The air cooled as they walked and Thrawn swore he felt a gentle breeze rustle the sleeves of his shirt. They were coming upon a clearing, and soon were upon a very large, pitch black room. Thrawn suddenly felt very small, the aura of the space overwhelming. Eli gripped his hand tighter, sensing his discomfort. The sudden igniting of torches lining their path caused Thrawn’s footsteps to falter. Red eyes scanned the room as the torches lit up the space, curving around the perimeter until they formed a massive circle. In the center was a single stone slab.

Thrawn continued on until he and Eli entered the circle.

“Mitth’raw’nuruodo,” a voice boomed through the expansive cave, echoing off the damp walls. 

A ghostly figure emerged from out of the walls; ugly, menacing, but oddly inviting. Her skin was a sickly green-gray, with black markings around her eyes and mouth and cheeks. She wore deep crimson and bright red robes. Thrawn did not know her, but he knew he needed her. 

“You know of me?” he called back.

The woman glided smoothly towards them as if floating through the air. Eli shifted slightly, taking a half step back. Thrawn shielded the smaller man with one broad shoulder, but he realized with crushing, acute awareness that his protection would be short lived, and that he would be handing him over shortly. But that was why they were here: to make Eli like him. Whatever it took. Which, according to legend, would not be something out of the question for the reward. Soon, his protection would not be necessary. 

“I’ve been waiting for you,” the woman explained in a distorted, perverse voice. “And I know why you have come here to me.” 

She stopped in front of Eli, her eyes raking over his broken flesh. She ran one grimy finger down his marred face and came to the packed fabric on his shoulder, peeling the bandages away to reveal a gouge in his shoulder, then circled him, almost hungrily. Eli hissed at the sudden pain of cool air hitting the open wound.

“I see why you desire him,” she continued to examine Eli, and Thrawn hardly flinched at the remark. His feelings were nothing he could hide from such a being. “And you are willing...”

“Anything.”

She stared hard at Thrawn. Her lips curved devilishly in a corrupt smile, eyes soaking in his once handsome, but still proud face. Chiss warriors were legends. Chiss warriors who could wield such powers as he were… invaluable. Her pupils expanded as she gazed at him, but not in attraction; in greed.

“Very well.”

She turned to stand near the stone slab, gesturing towards its surface.

Thrawn took a deep breath and led Eli to sit on it, legs dangling off the side and looking up at him with wide eyes. The human’s expression held everything Thrawn hoped this ritual would cleanse him off; fear, uncertainty, innocence. 

“It will be alright,” Thrawn reassured him.

“Thrawn,” Eli’s eyes flashed fiercely back and forth between him and the woman who seemed to glow, hovering off the ground slightly. His hand held tightly onto the fabric of Thrawn’s sleeve. 

Thrawn cupped his cheek and ran his thumb over textured skin. “I promise. And then we will be together, and neither one of us shall have to live without the other.”

“It is time,” the woman called.

“I promise,” Thrawn insisted. 

“Thrawn,” Eli whined in a broken, fearful tone. He desperately reached for Thrawn. “What is happening?”

“Do you trust me?” 

Eli blinked. “Of course.”

“And do you want me?”

“Want you?” Eli frowned. “Thrawn- what- of course I want you.”

“Forever?” Thrawn asked seriously, voice dropping down to a whisper. His expression held that he did not need to be asked the same. 

Eli swallowed. He had known for some time that Thrawn was the only being for him. So Thrawn’s question was not a question at all. Taken by the sheer idea of having Thrawn forever Eli moved unexpectedly. He stood, pulling him into a crushing embrace, throwing his arms around Thrawn’s shoulder and pressing their chapped lips together for a searing, life altering kiss. 

The woman grabbed the back of Eli’s shirt and yanked him back to the stone slab. Her other hand came to the front of Thrawn’s chest and pressed in, disappearing into him until there was nothing left of her. 

Thrawn staggered backwards and Eli sat up, panicked. When he laid eyes on Thrawn, his gaze was met by glowing green eyes. Speaking with two voices instead of one, Thrawn spoke, the words not his but those of the witch, “Kill me, Eli Vanto.” 

“Get out of his body and then sure thing.” Eli retorted, but before he could take any action he was held down to the slab, large hands holding down his shoulders and sharp knees pinning down his thighs. 

“It is what he wants for you both, don’t you know.” The twisted voice replied with a sick laugh. “Do it with your bare hands. Rip out my heart! Bite my neck!” They pleaded viciously. 

Eli tried to escape the hold, but could not in his poor condition. Fingers dug into his broken shoulder and he cried out in pain. “Never!” 

“No!” The voice screamed, and the eyes began to flash red, oscillating between the colors. Violently, they shook Eli, head slamming against the stone with a hard crack.

“Yes! Thrawn! Come back to me!” Eli pleaded through the shock. 

“Get out…” The voice began, eyes a pale pink, but the green came back stronger than before, “No! You came here for this! Do not deny me my prize!” The witch was obviously overpowering Thrawn, forcing Eli’s sidearm into his hand, pressing it up to a familiar broad chest, “Pull the trigger, Eli Vanto, and this will all be over.” They crooned.

Refusing, and unable, Eli did the first thing that came to mind. He turned his head and licked long stripes up and down Thrawn’s wrist, feeling the body perched above him shudder. Blue eyelids shut tightly as they shouted, “There is another way!” 

As effortlessly as she entered Thrawn’s body, the witch left it, frowning deeply. “Very well, but it is much less fun.” 

“Not for me.” Thrawn said, lowering himself to kiss Eli deeply, their teeth clashing together and Thrawn slipped a bloody hand behind his head to cradle it, fingers twining into knotted locks. Barely pulling away, Thrawn spoke into Eli’s mouth before the man could ask what would happen next, “we must mate.” 

Eli could not help the small smile that painted his face, “Oh. Much more fun.” 

Thrawn efficiently undressed them both, but not without some flourish, dragging his nails along Eli’s ribs and sucking at his collarbone, practically making the human purr, pain already long forgotten, and perhaps dulled by the strong energy around them, swarming as the ritual began. Clothes forgotten over the side of the slab, he ran a hand along his length, quickly bringing himself to full hardness as he rubbed his ridge’s secretions around himself. Not that this was much of a challenge with Eli on full display below him, his cock flushed a marbled purple as it curved upwards at a severe angle. The human perched himself up, tilting his chin to plant a soft, sucking kiss on Thrawn’s navel. 

Ready, Thrawn laid him back down, slipping his hands along the human’s sides and then underneath Eli’s rear and giving it a nice squeeze as he lined himself up with his beloved’s entrance. Eli pressed back encouragingly, flashing Thrawn an excited smile that spoke of both pleasure and trust. Yes, Thrawn knew that this was who he’d want to be beside for all eternity. He would succeed where his predecessor failed, and knew that nothing could stop them now. 

Already, he could feel energy buzzing around them like tendrils of lightning, every touch producing static. The friction between Eli and himself sparked, light splashing off their bodies and illuminating the room. From below, Eli looked up to a domed ceiling, ancient runes curling up and out of sight. They shifted and pulsed, and every once and again he thought he might just see some sort of meaning in thier form. 

As Thrawn increased his pace, he lifted Eli higher, drinking in the view of his love’s bliss, and ignoring the Dathomiri woman watching intently. Unlike himself, though, Eli almost seemed to relish her gaze, canting his hips and moaning while looking her right in the eye, his erect cock twitching involuntarily at his arousal. Thrawn pretended he didn’t see her shifting her skirts as he drove in deeper, dragging his ridges along Eli’s tight insides. “Mine,” he growled under his breath. 

Eli reached up to cup his face, “I am yours, and you are mine.” 

Inspired, Thrawn’s cock pulsed, releasing more of his essence and straightening further from its tight curl. “Yes, yours, always.” He spoke, pulling nearly all the way out and then pushing back in, the rim of Eli’s entrance taking him in around the architecture of his cock, opening and closing along each ridge.

Eli’s next cry was more desperate as this maneuver, brown hands coming up to grasp Thrawn’s forearms tightly. “Ah! Do you feel it?” 

Thrawn closed his eyes and reached into their surroundings, the dark swirling mass of the force that absorbed even their brightest energy, sucking it up like a black hole consumes a TIE Fighter. “Feel what, my love?” 

Eli Threw his head back, nails digging into flesh, “Everything!” 

“Yes, of course.” Thrawn assured, quickening his pace. Things seemed to be going well, this was the result he wanted, the ritual was working, and they were bonding in more ways than one, life forced intertwined, joining.

“Let it in, do not resist.” The witch’s shrill voice chimed in from behind Thrawn. She stood very close, so close that he could practically feel the aura dripping off her. And she kept getting closer. “Let me in…” 

So close to orgasm that he could not react in time, Thrawn again felt her enter his body, her consciousness overpowering his. He may have had decades of training, she had centuries. 

“Now I claim what is mine!” She roared, exiting just as quickly as she had entered, but she left with more than just her own lifeforce. 

When he came, he was not sure who felt it more within his body, but Eli certainly did. Shouting out Thrawn’s name, he clenched around those splendid ridges as he came untouched, the sparks igniting a flame within him that would never extinguish. A flame they would share forever. 

Thrawn felt it heat his insides slowly as the waves of his orgasm calmed and he was left with the delicate lick of warmth. Falling down onto Eli, he barely noticed the woman’s hands on Eli’s shoulder, the skin stitching itself together with her dark magik. When finished, a faint sigil was left branded in the flesh. 

“I cannot heal his eye, but the second is functional, and his abilities will compensate.” She promised, tapping with two fingers against Eli’s brow. Thrawn lifted his head to look at him, and one eye was still grey, but the other’s dark brown was now a furious yellow rimmed with red, a near inversion of his own. 

Thrawn realized that her voice was smoother, younger. Kneeling, he saw the same was true for her whole body, grey skin restored to a lively pallor, her feet firmly planted on the ground. “The deal is complete, Mitth’raw’nuruodo. You have your eternal life, and I have mine.” Her wide smile was not something to inspire confidence, but Thrawn could sense that this was the truth. Splaying his hand against Eli’s chest, he felt the man’s heart beating strongly, in time with his own pulse. “Just remember,” She continued as she walked out of the room, “You only have one.”


	2. Life

In a fur lined maroon cape, tight black pants, and nothing more, Thrawn extended his saber, the red glow reflecting off the sheen of his hair. 

From his seat, Eli chuckled. As he sat up, his red cloak fell from one side, exposing a shoulder pock marked with scars and bruises. “Get rid of her.” He ordered, a long list of grievances left unsaid. 

“Yes, master.” Thrawn growled, and no sooner than those words were uttered was the twi’lek before them executed. 

In their line of business, Eli had learned there was only one way to deal with cheaters, liars, and double agents. Death. A fate that would soon greet the being’s own master. 

Returning to his place at Eli’s side, Thrawn extended a hand that Eli into his own, giving it a squeeze. Thrawn kneeled to kiss Eli’s knuckles. “You are certain she was an Imperial spy?” He asked. 

“Absolutely.” Eli replied, raising Thrawn's hand to his mouth to lave his tongue between his digits. “An imperial stingfly, ultimately harmless. You know how to deal with stingflies, don’t you my love.”

Leaning his head against Eli's knee, Thrawn grinned wickedly. “Absolutely. One must strike at the heart of the nest. Destroy their queen.” 

“Then we must destroy Dath Vader. He is growing sloppy in his desperation, we know his tricks, and beat him before.” Eli added with an equally sinister smile, but it soon melted into adoration for his lover. 

Today, they grew their syndicate, weeding out those whose loyalty was not absolute. 

Tomorrow, they would topple the Empire, the Rebellion, all of it, and build the galaxy anew. 

But Eli knew the importance of focusing on the present, and they must approach their plans one step at a time. Vader was the next logical target, and came with the added bonus of dealing a heavy blow to the Emperor as well. There was no statement quite as powerful as obliterating one’s right hand, after all. 

The personal vendetta Thrawn had against the Sith Lord was a nice bonus, too. Just how he escaped the dying Chimaera was beyond either of them, but when word got back that Vader was on the prowl, they could not just sit by idly for long, as just as they knew him, he knew Thrawn’s secret.

Looking down at Thrawn, Eli felt his heart swell. Thrawn was more than just his right hand, he was his entire life. And Eli his. Their life forces shared as one, and their love stronger with every passing day. And as their bond grew, so did their power. “Are you ready to go swat a big, nasty stingfly darlin’?” 

“Absolutely.” Thrawn purred. 

“Good…” Eli said, softer now, and he twined his fingers into Thrawn’s hair. It was so beautiful grown out longer, a jagged fringe running along his forehead as longer locks laid against his shoulders, mingling with the fur topping his cape. 

Thrawn leaned into the touch, sliding his hands along Eli’s thighs. The smooth leather of his pants was warm to the touch, but also invited Thrawn to pull it away and reveal the tan flesh that lay beneath. As he crept further and farther along Eli’s exquisite length, he could not hold back the urge to pop the closure at Eli’s stomach, revealing a trail of coarse brown hairs. 

From his perch, Eli moaned deeply. Thrawn circled Eli’s groin with his index finger and thumb, dangerously close to his sensitive parts. “May I?” Thrawn asked gently. 

“Yes, fuck, please Thrawn. Need you.” Lifting his hips, Eli shoved his pants down unsuccessfully with one hand, Thrawn assisting with a tug on the other side until the dark material pooled around Eli’s ankles. The legs revealed were well toned, soft hairs populating scarred skin. Thrawn could tell the story behind every single one of the marks. 

A divot from an unseen thrown blade, making contact with Eli’s calf before it was detected. A long line of raking claw marks wrapping around his thigh from a feral creature encountered on their journeys searching for Sith knowledge. All markings befitting a warrior like Eli, and Thrawn kissed a line along all that he could reach. 

Then, he came to Eli’s hips, nipping at the crease of skin and feeling goose pimples rise all along Eli’s skin. “You tease.” Eli chuckled, sitting forward in his chair so his very hard and incredibly needy cock rubbed up against the side of Thrawn’s head. 

Not wanting to keep Eli waiting any longer, Thrawn took the tip into his mouth, keeping steady eye contact with Eli until he moved down along the shaft. There, he closed his eyes, savoring the heady taste of his lover and feeling how Eli relaxed under his grip, not just through physical touch but through their bond in the force. 

Setting an even, slow pace, Thrawn lavished every inch of Eli’s cock, swirling his tongue around it and dragging his teeth gently along the length as he knew Eli enjoyed it, indulging in the delightfully alien smoothness of it. Eli leaned his head back and drew in a long breath, relishing every moment of Thrawn’s attention. Recognizing that Eli would not reach orgasm on this alone, or rather just wanting to enhance every sensation the human felt, Thrawn continued his motions but also focused elsewhere. Reaching out and then inside, Thrawn slithered within Eli’s entrance, teasing with a tendril of the physical force. 

Eli gasped, breath released in an instant, and Thrawn knew his intrusion was welcomed. Eli’s grip in his hair tightened, and Thrawn pressed up against his innermost walls, probing everywhere but where he was direly needed for a few seconds before giving Eli what was most desired. First just brushing against the bundle of nerves unique to humans and so wonderful to pleasure with a wisp of the force, Thrawn teased along every millimeter. Whole body shuddering, Eli silently begged for more, and Thrawn happily complied as he expanded his presence, stretching Eli steadily. 

“Stars… Perfect… Just like that…” Eli moaned, running his nails along Thrawn’s scalp and already feeling ready to burst at his climax. 

Thrawn hummed happily around Eli’s cock, only adding to the sensations his love was experiencing with gentle vibration. “Fuck, I’m gonna… Stop, Thrawn, please.” 

Pulling off, Thrawn did as asked, but he kept his presence known within, settling in like a plug rather than actively writhing and pressing. “Yes?” He crooned. 

“I want to come inside of you. The other way.” Eli started with a sparkle in his eyes that Thrawn could not refuse. Oh no, not at all. The Chiss had very few weaknesses, but the delighted little blissed-out twang in Eli’s tone paired with glittering brown eyes and a kiss-swollen smile was most certainly one of them.

“Oh, yes Eli, of course.” His own trousers had grown quite tight after all… As soon as he thought that, his pants were ripped away by unseen hands and Eli pulled him onto his lap with well trained bronze arms, rutting his saliva slicked cock between Thrawn’s cheeks as calloused hands wandered across his chest. 

“Good.” Eli quipped, and then he reached around to stroke Thawn’s own cock, magenta in color with an aggressive curve and prominent thin ridges, almost gill-like, that excreted slick essence. Collecting some of Thrawn’s fluids, Eli lubricated his own member further, then traced a ring around Thrawn’s already pulsing entrance with his finger. Unlike his own hole, Thrawn’s didn’t require patience and a painstakingly slow pace, always gaping and prepared for Eli’s girth, and Eli was more than ready. 

In one swift motion, Eli impaled Thrawn, the inside as textured as his cock in a mirror image, creating a sensation unlike anything else in the universe, folds bending and sliding along with Eli’s thrusts. Throwing his head back, Eli could not help but cry out at the perfection that was being engulfed by Thrawn. 

At the raw sound, he tensed around Eli, rippling around the sweet sensation filling him, milking out Eli’s orgasm which came quickly then. Wrapping his arms around Thrawn and holding him flush to his own form, Eli released into the Chiss. He bit down on his shoulder, not quite hard enough to break the skin but enough to leave a mark that said Thrawn was  _ his _ . And he was Thrawn’s, too, in every facet. 

Not wanting to leave the Chiss hanging, once Eli regained his bearing after an earth shattering orgasm which was followed up by gentle, coaxing ripples to pull every drop of his seed from him, he stroked along Thrawn’s length. He teased at purple nipples, pinching and tweaking. He tugged on long, silken navy hair. He did everything he knew drove Thrawn mad, and did it again and again. Even softening, he stayed seated within him, enjoying the gentle hold and knowing Thrawn loved it too. 

Thrawn’s own release overtook him more slowly, an increase in his secretions and a tensing of his member to straightness instead of the severe curve. His eyelids fluttered as he relaxed back against Eli, pivoting on his hips to wrap his arms around Eli’s neck and kiss him deeply. 

“You are absolutely gorgeous.” Eli mused, nipping the tip of Thrawn’s nose. The Chiss replied by curling up into Eli’s lap, resting his head in the crook of the human’s neck as he came down from the high. 

“As are you.” He whispered, and Eli held him close, arms becoming lost in the tangle of their bodies. The fire within them raged, the heat pulsing at the points where their skin touched. Yes, tomorrow would come, and along with it savage battles in the great, unending war that made up their existence. But it was for moments like this that they transcended survival, went beyond their goals for peaceful perfection, and truly felt alive as one. Now, there was no Vader, no Empire or Rebellion or anything, only their flame, the joined lifeforce raging within with the heat of passion and love. 

Unity, they knew, was the secret to the universe. It would be a message to spread in their unending lifetimes, time not a concern. They could afford this saccharine distraction, and many more, and still achieve more than any who came before them. 

From across the room, the comm buzzed, breaking their trance of shared emotions and euphoric revelry. “Another traitor?” Thrawn asked softly, to which Eli laughed. 

“Possibly. Or a fair ally. Only experience will show.” He replied a Thrawn slid from his lap, redressing Eli before replacing his own clothing. Standing from the throne, Eli closed the distance to answer the device. 

Illuminated in a crackling blue hologram stood a Zabrak, appraising the duo projected before him similarly. “I was not expecting a Chiss.” He stated plainly. 

“Nor I a former apprentice to the emperor.” Eli replied, ignoring the remark while recognizing the man immediately. His contact had certainly come through, but this was one unexpected detail to the story. It was a story he knew well enough, though. “But, it is of no concern now as we both know the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” The Zabrak just nodded, and Eli continued, “I have heard many things about Crimson Dawn, let us see if they are true.”

**Author's Note:**

> This AU has certainly been a long time coming, and we hope you've enjoyed reading it as much as we have writing it!  
> Art included is by FreakCityPrincess.


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